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Distinguished by their lavish sculpture, metalwork or tile facades, Art Nouveau buildings certainly stand out. Art Nouveau buildings are unique, audacious and inspirational. Rejecting historic styles, considered inappropriate for an era driven by progress, architects and designers sought a new vocabulary of architectural forms. Their vision was shaped by modern materials and innovative technologies, including iron, glass and ceramics. A truly democratic style, Art Nouveau transformed life on the eve of the twentieth century and still captivates our imaginations today. Beautifully illustrated, this book explains how the new style came into being, its rationale and why it is known by so many different names: French Art Nouveau, German Jugendstil, Viennese Secession, Catalan Modernisme, Italian Liberty and Portuguese Arte Nova. It covers the key architects and designers associated with the style; Victor Horta in Brussels, Hector Guimard in Paris, Antoni Gaudi on Barcelona, Otto Wagner in Vienna, Odon Lechner in Budapest and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow. There are detailed descriptions and stunning photographs of buildings to be found in Brussels, Paris, Nancy, Darmstadt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona, Milan, Turin and Aveiro. Finally, it covers the decorative arts, stained glass, tiles and metalwork that make Art Nouveau buildings so distinctive.

The result of years of research, this epic volume shows the global reach of the Art Nouveau idiom Modernismo, Jugendstil or Art Nouveau--the different names given to Art Nouveau in different geographical contexts highlight the territorial scope and diversity of the style, but also its common features: it was new, modern, young and groundbreaking. Whether in Austria, Spain, Denmark or Russia, Art Nouveau defined itself as something that opposed tradition and broke with the past. Rejecting a classicizing academic grammar, and reaching deep into the fantastical for inspiration (from the imagined history of the medieval to the Orientalist exotic), artists and architects such as Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, Viollet-le-Duc, William Morris, Otto Wagner, Samuel Bing and the Goncourt brothers created a new style with a holistic vision, embracing architecture, painting, graphic art, interior design, textiles, ceramics and metalwork. Imaginative form was matched by innovative building techniques. The architects of Art Nouveau were some of the first to experiment with building with iron, glass, pottery and prefabricated concrete; their buildings offer instructive models of industrial development and collaborative design. Beautifully illustrated and exhaustively researched, The World Atlas of Art Nouveau Architecture brings together a selection of key Art Nouveau buildings in a truly global survey that includes, for the first time, examples of the style outside of Europe. Exemplars of the form were chosen through a rigorous selection process involving a panel of expert advisors with specialist input from each world region. A general introduction to the style grounds the selection, and short essays explain how Art Nouveau differed in different cities and countries. The World Atlas of Art Nouveau Architecture honors one of the world's first truly global modern art movements.

An expertly written and exquisitely photographed study of the buildings of Victor Horta, a central figure of Art Nouveau whose work was fundamental to modernist architecture In the decade following the success of his design for the Hôtel Tassel in Brussels in 1893, Victor Horta, the creator of Art Nouveau architecture, produced more than forty buildings—and a movement. Prepared in close collaboration with the Horta Museum, Brussels, Victor Horta: The Architect of Art Nouveau discusses the many influences on Horta’s designs and his legacy. The richly ornamental style of Art Nouveau, characterized by fluid lines based on natural forms, expressed a desire to abandon the historical styles of the nineteenth century and to develop a language that was beautifully crafted and thoroughly contemporary, laying the foundations for the development of modernism in architecture and interior design. Detailed descriptions of nineteen projects representing the full range of Horta’s work—including Edicule Lambeaux, Hôtel Autrique, Hôtel Max Hallet, and the Brugmann Hospital, are illustrated with Horta’s original drawings and specially commissioned photographs by award- winning photographer Alastair Carew-Cox. Extensive photographs of Hôtel Solvay—to which access had been denied for twenty years before Carew-Cox was granted special access, in recognition of his and David Dernie’s significant contribution to the study of Horta—are also included.

One of the most significant movements in the history of the decorative arts, Art Nouveau was born of a reaction to the rise of industrialism and inspired by the pioneering idealism of such radical geniuses as John Ruskin and William Morris. Architects and designers were seized with the desire to sweep away old traditions and create functional and original forms in an environment that would satisfy the demands of modern life. The distinctive new style rapidly became recognized the world over. Although it flowered only briefly, in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, and while a great many of its creations have been destroyed, there still remain a myriad examples of its sinuous shapes and organically inspired beauty, whether in the work of individuals such as Victor Horta, Hector Guimard and Antoni Gaudi or in that of collectives such as the Glasgow School and the Wiener Werkstatte. Compiled by Keiichi Tahara, one of the finest architectural photographers of his generation, Art Nouveau, is a lavish photographic survey of the most important Art Nouveau buildings, monuments and interiors throughout the length and breadth of Europe.

Since the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Prague has become one of Europe's--and the world's--most popular tourist destinations. As in London, Paris, and Rome, visitors flock to the gorgeous buildings and monuments that grace the streets of Prague, entranced by structures ranging from Gothic and baroque to cubist and neoclassical. And while hundreds of thousands stroll over Charles Bridge and gaze up at St. Vitus Cathedral each year, far fewer venture away from the crowds to seek out the countless gems of art nouveau peppered throughout Prague. With Art Nouveau Prague, Petr Wittlich--one of Europe's leading experts on nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture--tours those monuments and buildings of Prague that are most representative of the art nouveau movement while offering insightful commentary on each. Along the way, Wittlich visits such sites as the Municipal House, the Wilson Railway Station, the Grand Hotel Europa, and works by sculptors Frantisek Bílek, Ladislav Saloun, and Stanislav Sucharda. An introductory essay by Wittlich emphasizing the role of art nouveau within contemporary currents of modern European art accompanies more than one hundred color illustrations of some of the most stunning examples of art nouveau architecture and decoration in existence, and a detailed bibliography provides additional reading for each of the sites displayed in the book. Art Nouveau Prague is a must-have for those traveling to Prague for the first time or for anyone who appreciates or wants to learn more about art nouveau style.